Object Properties

Object properties relate one entity to another (not one class to another) [Harmse2018]. For example, an organization may be “part of” another organization. “part of” is an object property that describes the relations between the two individual organizations.

Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) uses the Relation Ontology (RO) to define object properties.

Each object property can have a domain and a range. When we say property p has domain D, we mean that all triples of the form x P y, x is a D. When we say property p has range R, we mean that in all triples of the form x P y, y is an R.

For example, if we define an object property “author_of”, we might define the domain to be “Person” and the range to be “Information Content Entity”. If we write x author_of y, we know x is a Person and y is an Information Content Entity. 1

Common Object Properties

Some object properties are quite common in the representation of scholarship. Many representations involve the use of identifiers. People, publications, organizations and other entities may be “denoted_by” an identifier. We assert, for example,:

x a Person
y a ORCID
x denoted_by y

“denoted_by” has an inverse property “denotes.” If x is denoted_by y, then y denotes x. We could write the above as:

x a Person
y a ORCID
y denotes x

See Table 16 Common Object Properties. The pattern entity1 bearer_of role; role realized_in process; process has_output entity2 is quite common and describes the role entity1 had through a process in the creation of entity2. Each of these properties has an inverse, so we could assert equivalently, entity2 output_of process; process realizes role; role inheres in entity1.

Table 16 Common Object Properties

Property	Label	Notes
BFO_0000050	part of	An entity is part of another entity
BFO_0000051	has part	Inverse of part of
IAO_0000219	denotes	The relation between an identifier and entity
IAO_0000235	denoted by	Inverse of denotes
RO_0000053	bearer of	relation between a dependent and its bearer
RO_0000052	inheres in	The inverse of bearer of
BFO_0000055	realizes	A process realizes a role
BFO_0000054	realized in	A role is realized in a process
RO_0002234	has output	An occurrent has a continuant as an output
RO_0002353	output of	A continuant is the output of an occurrent
RO_0000086	has quality	An entity has another entity as a quality
RO_0000080	quality of	An entity is a quality of another entity

All Object Properties

See Table 7.

Table 7 Object Properties

Term ID - Label	Definition
BFO_0000050 - part of	A core relation that holds between a part and its whole
BFO_0000051 - has part	A core relation that holds between a whole and its part
BFO_0000054 - realized in	A relation between a realizable entity and a process, where there is some material entity that is bearer of the realizable entity and participates in the process, and the realizable entity comes to be realized in the course of the process
BFO_0000055 - realizes	A relation between a process and a realizable entity, where there is some material entity that is bearer of the realizable entity and participates in the process, and the realizable entity comes to be realized in the course of the process
IAO_0000136 - is about	A (currently) primitive relation that relates an information artifact to an entity.
IAO_0000219 - denotes	A primitive, instance-level, relation obtaining between an information content entity and some portion of reality. Denotation is what happens when someone creates an information content entity E in order to specifically refer to something. The only relation between E and the thing is that E can be used to ‘pick out’ the thing. This relation connects those two together. Freedictionary.com sense 3: To signify directly; refer to specifically
IAO_0000235 - denoted by	Inverse of the relation ‘denotes’
ORG_2000001 - occupies	The property that associates an organization occupies a geographical location is it has one of more people at the location, or has legal rights to the location
ORG_2000002 - has occurent part	The property that associates an occurent which has an occurent part wholly contained within it
ORG_2000003 - has time instant	The property that associates a process boundary with the time instant at which the process boundary occurs
ORG_2000004 - has organizational interest	The property that associates an organization with a concept that the organization manifests in its work
ORG_2000005 - has website	The property that associates an organization with its website
ORG_2000006 - website of	The property that associates a website with its organization
ORG_2000007 - has successor organization	The property that associates an organization with the organization that succeeds it. The preceeding organization ceases to exist, the successor is brought into existence
ORG_2000008 - successor organization of	The property that associates an on organization with the organization that preceeded it
ORG_2000009 - has organizational part	The property that associates an organization with one of its organizational parts
ORG_2000010 - organizational part of	The property that associates an organization part with the organization of which it is a part
ORG_2000011 - affiliated with	The property that associates an organization with another organization that is not an organizational part associatiion
ORG_2000012 - has spin-off organization	The property that associates an organization with a part that is now independent
ORG_2000013 - spin-off organization of	The property that associates an organization with an organization of which it was formerly a part
ORG_2000014 - has organizational member	The property that associates an organization with one of its members
ORG_2000015 - organizational member of	The property that associates a member organizaiton with the organization of which it is a member
ORG_2000016 - has organizational employee	The property that assocates an organization with an employee of the organization
ORG_2000017 - organizational employee of	The property that associates a person with the organization of which that person is an employee
ORG_2000018 - has organizational associate	The property that associates an organization with a person who is associated with the organization
ORG_2000019 - organizational associate of	The property that associates a person with an organization with which they are associated
ORG_2000020 - has organizational head	The property that associates an organziation with the person who is the head of the organization
ORG_2000021 - organizational head of	The property that associates a person with an organization which they are they head of
ORG_2000022 - has organizational volunteer	The property that associates an organization with a person who volunteers for the organization
ORG_2000023 - organizational volunteer of	The property that associates a person with an organization for which they volunteer
ORG_2000024 - has organizational appointee	The property that associates an organization with a person who is appointed by the organization to some post or position within the organization
ORG_2000025 - organizational appointee of	The property that associates a person with the organization which has appointed the person to some post or position within the organization
ORG_2000026 - has person member	The property that associates an organization with a person who is a member of the organization
ORG_2000027 - person member of	The property that associates a person with an organization of which the person is a member
RO_0000052 - inheres in	A relation between a specifically dependent continuant (the dependent) and an independent continuant (the bearer), in which the dependent specifically depends on the bearer for its existence
RO_0000053 - bearer of	A relation between an independent continuant (the bearer) and a specifically dependent continuant (the dependent), in which the dependent specifically depends on the bearer for its existence
RO_0000056 - participates in	A relation between a continuant and a process, in which the continuant is somehow involved in the process
RO_0000057 - has participant	A relation between a process and a continuant, in which the continuant is somehow involved in the process
RO_0000080 - quality of	A relation between a quality and an independent continuant (the bearer), in which the quality specifically depends on the bearer for its existence
RO_0000081 - role of	A relation between a role and an independent continuant (the bearer), in which the role specifically depends on the bearer for its existence
RO_0000086 - has quality	A relation between an independent continuant (the bearer) and a quality, in which the quality specifically depends on the bearer for its existence
RO_0000087 - has role	A relation between an independent continuant (the bearer) and a role, in which the role specifically depends on the bearer for its existence
RO_0000091 - has disposition	A relation between an independent continuant (the bearer) and a disposition, in which the disposition specifically depends on the bearer for its existence
RO_0000092 - disposition of	Inverse of has disposition
RO_0001015 - location of	A relation between two independent continuants, the location and the target, in which the target is entirely within the location
RO_0001025 - located in	A relation between two independent continuants, the target and the location, in which the target is entirely within the location
RO_0002012 - occurent part of	A part of relation that applies only between occurents.
RO_0002131 - overlaps	X overlaps y if and only if there exists some z such that x has part z and z part of y
RO_0002234 - has output	P has output c iff c is a participant in p, c is present at the end of p, and c is not present at the beginning of p.
RO_0002323 - mereotopologically related to	A mereological relationship or a topological relationship
RO_0002353 - output of	Inverse of has output
unitType - temporal unit type	An indicator of the temporal precision of a time instant

All

• BFO_0000050 - part of
• BFO_0000051 - has part
• BFO_0000054 - realized in
• BFO_0000055 - realizes
• IAO_0000136 - is about
• IAO_0000219 - denotes
• IAO_0000235 - denoted by
• ORG_2000001 - occupies
• ORG_2000002 - has occurent part
• ORG_2000003 - has time instant
• ORG_2000004 - has organizational interest
• ORG_2000005 - has website
• ORG_2000006 - website of
• ORG_2000007 - has successor organization
• ORG_2000008 - successor organization of
• ORG_2000009 - has organizational part
• ORG_2000010 - organizational part of
• ORG_2000011 - affiliated with
• ORG_2000012 - has spin-off organization
• ORG_2000013 - spin-off organization of
• ORG_2000014 - has organizational member
• ORG_2000015 - organizational member of
• ORG_2000016 - has organizational employee
• ORG_2000017 - organizational employee of
• ORG_2000018 - has organizational associate
• ORG_2000019 - organizational associate of
• ORG_2000020 - has organizational head
• ORG_2000021 - organizational head of
• ORG_2000022 - has organizational volunteer
• ORG_2000023 - organizational volunteer of
• ORG_2000024 - has organizational appointee
• ORG_2000025 - organizational appointee of
• ORG_2000026 - has person member
• ORG_2000027 - person member of
• RO_0000052 - inheres in
• RO_0000053 - bearer of
• RO_0000056 - participates in
• RO_0000057 - has participant
• RO_0000080 - quality of
• RO_0000081 - role of
• RO_0000086 - has quality
• RO_0000087 - has role
• RO_0000091 - has disposition
• RO_0000092 - disposition of
• RO_0001015 - location of
• RO_0001025 - located in
• RO_0002012 - occurent part of
• RO_0002131 - overlaps
• RO_0002234 - has output
• RO_0002323 - mereotopologically related to
• RO_0002353 - output of
• unitType - temporal unit type

Harmse2018

Harmse, Henrietta, A Common Misconception regarding OWL Properties, blog post, https://henrietteharmse.com/2018/06/22/a-common-misconception-regarding-owl-properties/

Footnotes

1

Are these the correct domain and range for such a property? Discuss.